Research Interests

Education

Ph.D., Harvard University, 1978

B.A., Harvard University, 1974

Professor Sacks joined Columbia's Department of English and Comparative Literature in 1978, and he has also taught courses for the Departments of Classics and of Germanic Language and Literatures. His work focuses on the literary, mythic and linguistic traditions of Homeric Greek, Old English, and Old Norse, but he also ranges into areas such as biblical narrative, Celtic myth and narrative, classical myth in English poetry, and modern epic poetry (especially Derek Walcott's Omeros, on which he is currently writing), as well as the field of information technology. He has served terms at Columbia as Director of Academic Information Systems, and as Executive Director of Information Technology and Adjunct Professor of Management Information Systems at the Columbia Business School, as well as Director of the First-Year Writing Program in the College. Awards he has received include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, as well as a Distinguished Teaching Award from Columbia's School of General Studies. His publications include The Traditional Phrase in Homer: Two Studies in Form, Meaning and Interpretation, as well as articles on Greek, Old English and Old Norse poetry and linguistics, and on technology issues in higher education.

Selected Publications

The Traditional Phrase in Homer: Two Studies in Form, Meaning, and Interpretation